Airplane hangar



July 18, 1961 J. c. MQINI'OSH AIRPLANE HANGAR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 16, 1957 July 18, 1961 J, c, MCINTQSH 2,992,709

AIRPLANE HANGAR Filed May 16, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 EMMKM United States Patent 2,992,709 AIRPLANE HANGAR James C. McIntosh, Madison Heights, Mich. (2818 E. 31st St. South, Wichita 16, Kans.) Filed May 16, 1957, Ser. No. 659,715 3 Claims. (Cl. 189-15) This invention relates to an airplane hangar and more particularly pertains to a hangar having outwardly slidable wing sections and a center section having a cantilevered roof portion covering the main wing area and motor portion of the fuselage between the wing sections.

Airplane hangars with slidable Wing sections have been employed heretofore to house airplanes, however, the several devices of the prior art have not proven entirely satisfactory inasmuch as they are complicated in design and construction, expensive to manufacture, difficult to use, and require too much movement in the slidable portions to clear the plane for movement out of the stationary portions and do not provide shelter for the motor area in the open position.

With the foregoing in view, the primary object of the invention is to provide an airplane hangar which is simple in design and construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy. to use, and which has a shortened travel for the movable sections to clear the airplane wings.

An object of the invention is to provide a center section of the hangar which has a projecting or cantilevered roof portion for occupying the space between the movable side sections and so as to overlie the airplane fuselage in the main wing area and motor area.

An object of the invention is to provide movable side sections mounted on tracks having doors swingable into the area below the cantilevered roof portions so as to provide an end closure beneath the cantilevered roof area.

An object of the invention is to provide a track and wheel arrangement for moving the wing sections outwardly of the main section, and a flange on the track and a flange on the movable wing sections which interlock so as to anchor the slidable or movable wing sections against wind displacement.

An object of the invention is to provide concrete footings under the tracks and body portion so as to anchor the tracks and body portion to the ground.

These and other objects of the invention will become apparent by reference to the following description of an airplane hangar embodying the invention taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side-elevational view of the inventive hangar.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the inventive hangar.

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the inventive hangar showing one side in the open position with the door folded back thereon and the other side in the closed position with the door folded out therefrom.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of FIG. 3 taken on the line 4-4 thereof showing the wheel and track construction and the interlocking flange construction; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 taken on the line 5-5 thereof showing the side section and center section integration and guttering.

Referring now to the drawings wherein like numerals refer to like and corresponding parts throughout the several views, the airplane hangar disclosed therein to illustrate the invention comprises a fixed center section having a cantilevered roof portion 11 and transversely movable wing covering sections 12 and 13 disposed normal to the fixed section 10 and in the area of the projecting roof 11 so as to close the sides under the roof and doors 14 and 15 hingedly mounted on the sections 12 and 13 respectively which close the front of the roof section 10 2,992,709 Ce Patented July 18, l 961 under the roof 11 and fold back against the wing sections 12 and 13 respectively.

More particularly, the inventive airplane hangar coinprises the fixed airplane body or fuselage covering center section 10 which has paired side walls 20 and 21 adapted to extend from an airplane main wing area rearwardly to the inter-connecting end wall 22; the roof 11 is mounted on the side walls 20 and 21 and end wall 22. and the cantilevered portion 11 extends forwardly from the center section 10 so as to cover the airplane fuselage in the main wing area and also to cover the motor and propeller area. The walls 20-22 are mounted on concrete footings 23 and are anchored thereto by bolts 24 to prevent wind displacement.

The like wing covering movable side sections 12 and 13 are comprised of side walls 25 and 26 and end walls 27 which are adapted to cover the airplane main wings on either side of the fuselage exteriorly of the roof area 11.

The sections 12 and 13 are equipped with wheels or rollers 30 which ride on the tracks 31 bolted to the concrete footings 32 and it is to be noted that the tracks and footings are disposed normal to the fixed sections 10 and lie beneath the movable sections 12 and 13 so that the sections 12 and 13 can be moved from a closed position slightly under the roof 11 to an open position remote from the roof 11 so as to uncover the wings. The side walls 25 and 26 are provided with a projecting flange 33 which lies under the track rail 31 flange so as to prevent wind displacement; the projecting portion of the roof 11 is provided with a rain water gutter 34 over the doors and side sections 12 and 13 to eliminate water dripping in that area and it will be understood that the gutter also prevents the drip from the roof when the sections 12 and 13 are moved outwardly to the positions seen in FIG. 3 such as when work is being done on the plane.

In operation, the movable side sections 12 and 13 are moved outwardly on the tracks 31 to the ends thereof so as to permit the user to move an airplane into the fixed section 10 tail first until the main wing is substantially midway located between the tracks 31. Upon the airplane being so disposed the movable wing covering sections 12 and 13 are moved inwardly on the tracks 31 so as to en velop the wing tips until the movable sections 12 and 13 slightly telescope with the fixed center section 10 in the area of the cantilevered roof 11; the doors 14 and 15 are then closed and locked such as by a padlock on the doors 14 and 15 which would thereby prevent outward movement of the sections 12 and 13 and completely enclose the plane. It is to be further noted that due to the doors 14 and 15 folding backwardly against the movable sections 12 and 13 that the tracks and side sections 12 and 13 can be substantially shorter than if the side sections met intermediately of the fixed portion 10.

To remove the airplane from the hangar, it is only necessary to unlock the doors 14 and 15 and fold them back against the side sections and move them outwardly a short distance so as to clear the wing tips and the airplane is then ready to emerge from the hangar.

The projecting or cantilevered roof portion 11 enables the side sections 12 and 13 to be made substantially shorter than if they connected over the airplane fuselage and the provision of the doors 14 and 15 which fold back also enables shorter tracks and movable sections to be used than otherwise would be feasible.

The inventive hangar with the features described constitutes a compact, durable, inexpensive, and neat appearing hangar easily erected and operated.

Although but a single embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, it is obvious that many changes may be made in the size, shape, detail, and arrangement of the various elements of the invention within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An airplane hangar comprising an airplane body covering fixed section including sidewalls in the fuselage area from the tail to the main wing, a back wall interconnecting said sidewalls, and a roof mounted on saidside and back walls; said roof having a cantilevered portion extending forwardly beyond said side walls so as to cover-the airplane body in the main wing and motor area; like airplane wing covering sections wing-wise axially movably disposed normal to said fixed section in the area of said cantilevered roof including side walls leading outwardly from said fixed'section, end walls inter-connecting said side walls, a roof mounted on said side and end walls; and a paired projecting door hingedly mounted on each said wing covering sections extending into the area below said cantilevered roof portion so as to close the front of said fixed section in said cantilevered roof area; said doors being swingable back over said wing covering portion side walls; said fixed section cantilevered roof portion having sides overlying said wing covering sections; and means on said sides, such as eavetroughs, for preventing water from running between said cantilevered roof portion and said wing covering sections.

2. In a device as set forth in claim 1, tracks under said wing sections lying normal to said fixed body section and extending outwardly beyond said wing sections a distance substantially equal to said wing sections, and wheels on said wing sections riding said tracks.

3. An airplane hangar comprising a center section in- 4 eluding side walls in an airplane fuselage area from the tail to the main wing and a roof having a cantilevered portion extending forwardly beyond said side walls so as to cover an airplane body in the main wing and motor area; like airplane Wing covering sections wing-wise axially movable disposed normal to said center section in the area of said cantilevered roof, and a paired projecting door hingedly mounted on each'said wing covering section extending into the area below said cantilevered roof portion so as to close the front of said center section in said cantilevered roof area; said doors being swingable back over said wing covering portion side Walls; said center section cantilevered roof portion having sides overlapping said wing covering sections providing means preventing water running between said cantilevered roof portion and.

said wing covering sections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 140,100 Learman Jan. 23, 1945 1,156,693 Koger Oct. 12, 1915 1,470,557 Eremeefi Oct. 9, 1923 2,245,318 Blank June 10, 1941 2,652,906 Mitchell Sept. 22, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 75,219 Austria Jan. 10, 1919 77,774 Austria Aug. 25, 1919 186,809 Great Britain Oct. 12, 1922 

